The present invention relates generally to communications, and more particularly, to a method and system for providing reliable packet and cell-like networks.
Reliability in present networks is obtained by one of two approaches: (1) building the network with extremely reliable and concomitantly extremely expensive components, or (2) building the network so that excess capacity is present. This excess capacity is deployed in a diverse manner so that failures in the back up capacity are statistically uncorrelated with failures in the main working components. As such, both of these approaches are expensive.
Further, network reliability is presently obtained by some modems that include dynamic controls such as XON and XOFF. These controls help prevent buffer overflows in the network device closest to the modem. Also, some current modems are capable of supporting multiple protocols and transmission rates and can communicate with another modem in the network to determine a mutually compatible protocol for the given network conditions. However, these existing modems apply their protocol choices to all transmissions (compressible and non-compressible), and do not alter their compression rates to address major network failures. Therefore, it is desirable to have a method and system for overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a communication system that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
In accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention includes a packet-based network for communicating information between a first endpoint and a second endpoint, including a plurality of paths connecting the first endpoint and the second endpoint, a controller for determining if the network is congested, and a processor for compressing, according to a congestion-level of compression, the information transmitted from the first endpoint to the second endpoint when the determined network congestion level exceeds a selected level.
In another aspect the invention includes a method for communicating information between a first endpoint and a second endpoint over a packet-based network having a plurality of paths connecting the first endpoint and the second endpoint, including the steps of determining a network congestion level, transmitting information from the first endpoint to the second endpoint, and applying a congestion-level of compression to compress the information transmitted from the first endpoint to the second endpoint if the determined network congestion level exceeds a selected level.
In another aspect the invention includes an apparatus for transmitting information to an endpoint over a network having a plurality of paths connecting the apparatus and the endpoint, including means for transmitting the information to the endpoint, means for receiving a network congestion signal indicating when a network congestion level for the network exceeds a selected level, and congestion-level compression means for compressing the information transmitted to the endpoint when the network congestion level exceeds the selected level.
In yet another aspect the invention includes a method for communicating information between a first endpoint and a second endpoint over a packet-based network having a plurality of paths connecting the first endpoint and the second endpoint, including the first endpoint receiving a network congestion signal indicating whether a network congestion level for the network exceeds. a selected level, the first endpoint transmitting information to the second endpoint, and the first endpoint applying a congestion-level of compression to compress the information transmitted to the second endpoint if the network congestion level exceeds the selected level.